


Divergence

by Rakuyou_Tenshi (Citrus_Luver)



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/M, Female Leonard McCoy, Five Year Mission, Fluff and Angst, Genderbending, Kid Fic, M/M, Mission Fic, Missions Gone Wrong, Rescue Missions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-06 20:06:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4234878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Citrus_Luver/pseuds/Rakuyou_Tenshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim Kirk never thought he needed a lasting romantic relationship.  He always thought he would live and die through one night stands and sailing through space in the Starship Enterprise.  Leonard McCoy had already endured one failed marriage and had long decided he wasn’t meant for love.  It takes a chance meeting with their selves from an altered dimension, for Jim and Leonard to realize just how wrong they are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

If anyone asked, Jim would have said it started out as completely normal day.  At 0700, the start of alpha shift, Starfleet had assigned them to study the fourth planet in the Omega Beta System.  It was a class M planet with an environment and climate similar to Earth.  The mission was to classify the flora and fauna on the planet and study any sentient life forms they might find.  Once the admiralty finished detailing out the specifics, and Jim swore to not break the prime directive for the umpteenth time.  Jim sauntered out of his ready room and right into sick bay. 

Sick bay was quiet and nearly empty.  There were only a few ensigns getting their annual checkups.  Nobody seemed sick or injured.  Bones’ weekly reports indicated that reported injuries and sickness around the ship had finally tapered off.  It seemed everyone was finally getting acclimated to the five-year-mission.  Jim had joked that it was probably due to the crew members being terrified of invoking the CMO’s wrath.   Bones just puffed up his cheeks and grumbled in his thick southern accent that ‘if it saves lives, I’ll would grump and grumble my way through the five years’. 

Currently, Bones wasn’t anywhere in sight.  Normally he was bustling around sick bay like a dictator or running some experiment in one of the adjoining lab benches.  Bones knew they were creeping closer and closer to the Omega Beta System, and Jim had been continuously dropping hints that Bones was low on his away mission count.  Starfleet firmly believed that commanding officers should attend a certain number of away missions each year.  The reasoning was that officers could further their command skills by dealing with different situations that they did not normally experience on board a starship. It was one of the few rules Jim fully intended to follow much to Bones’ annoyance.  As much as Jim loved his silver beauty, he equally loved seeing new planets.  He personally led most away missions much to the chagrin of both Spock and Bones. 

It was one of Bones’ younger nurses, Nurse Robertson, who spotted him first.  Years ago, Jim wouldn’t have hesitated in bedding her.  She immediately reddened.  The Enterprise was her first assignment.  She was fresh out of the academy.  “Doc… doctor Mc…McCoy is in his off…office, Ca…captain.”  She fumbled through her words. 

Jim nodded and smiled at her.  “Thank you, Nurse.”  The smile seemed to unnerve her even more.  Jim could actually see the medical tricorder in her hands shake.  Jim nodded at her again before casually excusing himself.  He slipped behind a pair of bio beds.

Jim and Bones had known each other long enough that they no longer need formalities, or so Jim claimed.  Jim never knocked much to Bones’ annoyance.  Jim sauntered into Bones’ office and found the other man literally buried in a pile of PADDs.  He even jumped when Jim appeared.  That almost never happened.  Bones always had the uncanny abilities to know exactly when Jim entered without Jim needing to announce himself.  He furrowed his brow and dropped the PADD he was currently holding.  “Jim, I’m busy,” Bones grumbled out.  He was clearly annoyed.

“Aww, Bones,” Jim whined.  He pushed a few PADDs over to the side of the table and literally planted himself on the edge of Bones’ desk.  Bones narrowed his eyes and hasty grabbed some of the more precariously placed PADDS to prevent any disasters from occurring.  Bones seemed to positively glare at him. 

“Don’t you have things to do?  Captainy things to do?”  Bones groused.

Jim picked up one of the knickknacks resting on Bones’ desks.  Bones had said it helped patients to touch something tangible when he was giving out medical diagnoses.  Jim wasn’t convinced, but then again he didn’t have as many initials after his name as Bones did.  He knew how to talk down a Klingon and charm his way through any diplomatic negotiations, but he sure as hell wasn’t as good at being a ‘mother hen’ like Bones was.  “That’s why you’re the psychologist, Bones.”

It had a strange shape and texture.  It was rough on one side and smooth on the other side.  He wondered when Bones had procured such an odd item.  He hadn’t seen it on Bones’ desk before.

Jim always wondered if Bones was a tad telepathic.  He always did seem to know just what Jim was thinking.  “Tonia gave that to me the last time she came in for her checkup.  She picked it up during our last layover at space dock.   She said it reminded her of me.” 

Jim furrowed his brow and felt a strange sensation in the pit of his stomach.  It definitely wasn’t that Bones just called another member of his crew by her first name.  Bones never believed in all that bureaucratic nonsense. 

“You and Lt. Barrows getting serious?”  Jim jokingly asked. 

When Bones blushed, Jim suddenly realized he felt completely lousy.  His previously cheerful mood had all but disappeared.  He was tempted to snap the odd item in half.  “Of course not,” Bones replied easily; he waved his hand.  “Don’t be ridiculous, I’m more than ten-years-older than her.”

 “You aren’t that old, Bones,” Jim quickly responded.  He placed the knickknack down.

Bones scowled.  “No.”

“No?”  Jim blinked.  He was actually confused, and it wasn’t easy to make Jim Kirk confused. 

Bones pointed at the folder that was currently peeking out from his back pocket.  Jim had completely forgotten the actual reason he was even in Bones’ office to begin with.  “I’m busy, Jim.  Unlike you, I have research to do. Now that your crew no longer gets into inane accidents all the time I finally have some spare time.  I got viruses and space pathogens to study.  Damn space is disease and danger…”

Jim waved his hand.  He mocked fanning himself.  “Yeah, yeah… darkness and silence.  I know Bones.”  Jim really couldn’t forget.  Those had literally been the first words that Bones had said to him that faithful day on the shuttle ride out of Riverside Shipyard. 

Bones looked annoyed at haven been interrupted.  He crossed his arms and positively glared at Jim.  Jim had long learned that Bones’ annoyed look was basically his default expression, and it no longer fazed him as much, as long as Bones wasn’t welding a hypo.  Jim pulled out the folder with the documents that Starfleet had transmitted to him.  He flipped to a particular page that he knew would change Bones’ mind.  He held it out in front of Bones.  He positively had to hold back his smile when he watched Bones’ eyes widened.  There were few things that fascinated Bones in outer space.  Flora with perceived medicinal purposes was high on that list.  “Fine.”  Bones grumbled.

“Meet me in the transporter room in twenty.”  Jim tucked the folder under his arms and positively galloped out of the office. 

He was rewarded by a very harsh, “god damn it” from Bones.  Jim’s smile only widened.

When Jim arrived on the bridge, they were already nearing Omega Beta VI and ready for the final preparation to orbit the planet.   It was already fully displayed on the bridge’s view screen.  It was a blue and green planet very much like Earth.  He relieved Spock from the conn and planted himself down in his chair.  “Distance to destination, Mr. Sulu?”

“We’ll be in orbit in ten minutes Sir.”  Sulu responded back.

“Good work Mr. Sulu.”  Kirk crossed his legs and turned towards Spock.  “Mr. Spock, what are the hull readings?”

“Gravity is 1.2 of Earth.  Atmosphere is within safety range.  Surface temperature is 30 degrees, Captain.”

“Thank you, Mr. Spock.”  He turned back around to face the screen.   He loved watching the Enterprise maneuver into position for orbit.  He pressed the communicator button located on the side of his chair.  “Kirk to Dr. McCoy.”

“Yes, Jim,” Bones’ voice grumbled through the comm. 

“Make that ten.”

“Yes, Jim.”   

Once Sulu had ‘parked’ the Enterprise into orbit, Jim literally leaped from his chair.  “Mr. Spock, you have the conn,” he chirped out before Spock would have any time to protest.  He slipped into the awaiting turbo lift.  He heard Spock’s trademark ‘fascinating’ as the turbo lift door closed.

Jim was pleasantly surprised to find Bones already waiting for him in the transporter room.  He was currently engaged in a very animated conversation with Scotty.  Both men whipped around when he stepped in. 

“Ready Bones?”

“Are you actually giving me a choice?”  Bones grumbled.

“Nope.”  Jim grabbed Bones’ arm and pulled him towards the transporter pad.  Bones managed to loosen his grip.  When Jim was satisfied Bones was still following, he let go of the other man’s arm.  When they were both firmly situated on two separate pads, Jim nodded at Scotty.  “Energize, Mr. Scott.”

“Aye Captain,” Scotty chirped back.  Moments later, Jim felt the familiar tickling feeling before his molecules were digitalized and then reassembled on the planet’s surface. 

The planet really was as grassy and pleasant as Starfleet had sold it to be.  Starfleet always seemed to find ways to over embellish the nature of the planets that they had been sent to study.  Jim was surprised for once that the planet really was as pleasant as advertised.  It seemed Bones was equally impressed by their surroundings.

“Should we take a look, Jim?”

Jim clapped his hands together.  “Yeah, let’s look around before sending more men down.”  He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet.

If Jim had to guess, he and Bones were barely on the planet for three hours when their communicators beeped.  They were a few kilometers from their initial coordinates.  The scenery was still mainly the same.  Blue skies and green fields, Bones had jokingly said he could get used to spending a lifetime in a place like this. 

Bones raised his eyebrows.  Jim shrugged before flipping the communicator open.  “Kirk here.”

“Captain, sensors report a disturbance approaching.  I advise you and Dr. McCoy to beam back up until it passes,” Spock’s voice cracked as it was transmitted through the device. 

“Duly noted Mr. Spock, what is this disturbance?”

“Its readings show a temporal anomy.”

From his peripheral vision, Jim saw Bones’ eyebrow rise upward.

“Explain, Mr. Spock.”

“It would be easier to show you the data.  It’s very… fascinating.”

“Okay, Mr. Spock.  Please have Mr. Scott lock onto our coordinates. Two to beam up.” 

“Yes, Captain.”

Jim closed his communicator.  

Seconds later, Jim felt the familiar transporter sensation. 

When he rematerialized, he found himself in the transporter room.  That was the moment when Jim Kirk startled to realize just how wrong everything was.

To be fair, Jim had always thought the day his world tilted on its axis, it would have involved more fanfare, drums, and maybe even a volley of phaser shots.   The difference was so minor that he was surprised he even noticed so soon.  He probably wouldn’t have noticed immediately were he not so familiar with his own ship, crew, and the man standing before him.  “Mr. Scott?” Jim breathed out.

The other man, a man similar to Scotty, blinked at him.  He didn’t answer Jim and instead pressed what Jim assumed was the comm button.  “Mr. Scott to Bridge,” the man stated.

Jim paled when the response came through.  His own voice came through the comm.  “Kirk here.”

“Captain, there seems to be a complication.”

“I’ll be right down.  Kirk out.”  The man, Scotty, let go of the button.  He looked at Jim.  Jim knew from, fuck, his own Scotty that he shouldn’t move.  He had briefed his men about the importance of security and knew Scotty of any incarnation took his job very seriously.

This Scotty seemed to positively glare at him.  “I don’t know who you think you are, but the captain will be here soon.” 

Jim nodded.

At that moment, the transporter door slid open.  If the situation wasn’t already weird, it just suddenly became extremely weird.  At that moment, he found own self, well a self that Jim assumed was a few years older than him, stepped into the room.  He was wearing a green wrap around tunic. 

“Yes, Scotty?” 

Scotty whipped around.  “Captain…”  Scotty seemed at a loss for words.  He waved his hands in Jim’s direction.  It was only then that the other Kirk noticed he was in the room.  He watched as the other Kirk’s eyes widened.  However the words that came out of his lips weren’t the ones Jim had been expecting.  The other Kirk immediately rotated on the balls of his feet to face Scotty again. 

“Where is she?”

“Captain.”

“Where is she, Mr. Scott?”

“There seemed to have been a transporter mishap, sir.  She must still be on the surface.”

“Damn it,” the other Jim hissed.  He looked positively frantic.  “Run sensor scans on the planet.”

“Aye, Captain.”  Jim watched the other Scotty press a few buttons.  He looked up, a little startled.  “I detect two life signs at the beaming coordinates on the planet, sir.  Besides minor alterations they seem to have similar patterns.”

“Two?”  The other Jim whispered. 

Jim wondered how he hadn’t noticed until that moment. 

“Bones.”    


	2. Chapter 2

Leonard McCoy thought that after living on a starship and knowing Jim Kirk for nearly a decade he would be used to strange situations.  He had experienced his share of transporter accidents although most of the time it just involved Leonard fixing the bruises, burns and cuts that Jim and other crew members experienced.  He had been spared from most transporter malfunctions.

So when he watched the transporter beams that surrounded him and Jim sparkle and crack for ten long seconds and he found himself still on the planet and Jim nowhere to be found, Leonard didn’t panic.  He thought Scotty had just missed although Scotty had never missed before.  Leonard was just about to pull out his own communicator to contact the Enterprise when the space that had previously been occupied by Jim sparkled and cracked.  The first thought that came to Leonard’s mind was that Jim had come back for him.  “Reckless Kid,” Leonard mumbled.  All he had to do was fucking beam him onto the Enterprise.

So when the figure that appeared before him wasn’t Jim, but in fact a heavily pregnant brunette woman in Starfleet science blues Leonard just blinked.  Were it not for the sheer impossibility of it all, Leonard would have thought Jim or someone on the Enterprise was playing a horrible joke on him.  One, Leonard was the fucking CMO.  He knew the health and status of every crew member on board the starship.  There was no way he could have missed a fucking pregnancy.  Two, Starfleet was adamant that all pregnant crewmembers after their first trimester be transferred to a planet side posting for the duration of their pregnancy.  Finally and most importantly, Leonard had no fucking idea who this woman was.  Leonard had always prided himself in knowing every member of the crew.  The Enterprise was the only known Starfleet vessel anywhere close to these coordinates.

It seemed she initially didn’t notice Leonard was standing right next to her.  In fact, she seemed pretty damn disoriented.  It was only after she turned on her black, high heel boots, that impressed Leonard to no end at the fluidity she possessed, and literally fucking bumped into him that she seemed to notice she wasn’t alone on the planet.  Leonard instinctively grabbed her arm before she could possibly topple into him because fuck Leonard wasn’t going to grab her anywhere else.  He was met with a pair of stunning hazel eyes. She scowled at him and positively jerked her arm back.  Were Leonard not prone to giving crewmembers a similarly menacing scowl, Leonard felt it would have alarmed him more.

“God damn it!” She hissed. 

“Ma’am?”

That was clearly not the correct choice of words.  She glared at him further.  “It’s not ma’am; lieutenant commander.”  She jabbed her long fingers into his chest.  It was only then that Leonard noticed that unlike the uniforms that Uhura or any of the other female crew members on the Enterprise wore.  Her uniform sleeves were longer and like his contained rank stripes.

“Sorry, Commander,” Leonard automatically corrected.

She pulled her hand back.  “Actually I would prefer doctor.”

Okay, now Leonard knew the universe was shitting on him.  There was no fucking way he wouldn’t know a fellow doctor on the ship especially not one that fucking outranked him.  “Doctor?”  Leonard narrowed his eyes.

“Yes, Doctor Lea McCoy, CMO of the USS Enterprise.” 

“Bullshit,” Leonard barked out.

She laughed.  That was not the response he had been expecting.  “Damn, I didn’t know his ego was that big!”

Leonard just blinked.  He was unsure when the conversation had shot past him.  Before Leonard could question or comment, their communicators seemed to simultaneously beep.  When Leonard raised his eyebrow and found the woman before him perform a near identical eye brow rise, Leonard knew the universe had to be fucking with him.  They each flipped their own communicators open. 

“Bones!”  Two near identical voices sounded through their respective comms.  It crackled.   

When they both answered with an annoyed, “Damn it Jim,” well that’s when Leonard knew.  He fucking knew.  The woman before him, well she was definitely Lea McCoy, an alternate universe version of him.  This wasn’t the first time Leonard had met a different him, and it wasn’t even the first time he had met a female version of himself, it was just that this him.  Well besides the glaringly obvious fact that she was pregnant, which on its own was fucking strange, he somehow felt this female version of himself was vastly different from the other female version of himself that he had met during the early months of the five-year mission.

Leonard watched as she walked a few meters away from him.  He guessed she had better sense than he did since it seemed their comms were interfering with each other.  _God damn it._   He should have been the one to walk away.  “Bones,” Jim’s voices traveled through the communicator.  He sounded frantic.

“Jim… fuck…”  Leonard hissed through the comm.  He wasn’t sure how to explain to Jim that there was a fucking female alternate universe version of himself standing right next to him.

“Bones, I don’t think we’re in our universe anymore.”

“Oh.”  Leonard replied drily.  He glanced over at Lea who Leonard could only guess was now talking animatedly with her Jim Kirk.  He couldn’t make out most of what she was saying.   From her body language, Leonard could easily surmise that she was equally unhappy.  “Why do you say that?”

“Well, I’m currently standing in the transporter room with another Jim Kirk, Spock and Scotty.”

“God damn it Jim.  Just beam me…” He shot another glance at Lea.  “Us… up.”

“You met…” Jim trailed off.

“Yeah, Jim.”  It seemed Jim was also having a hard time wrapping his head around the idea of a universe where he was a female. 

“Okay, that’s good.”  Leonard could already detect the hesitation in Jim’s voice.  Jim rarely hesitated and when he did.  Well, that’s when Leonard knew that something was wrong.

“What is it Jim?”  Leonard asked wearily.  He really wasn’t fucking sure he could take too much more of this suspense.

“That reading Spock detected.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, turns out it wasn’t an anomaly.  I haven’t gotten the complete picture, but it seems when our Enterprise tried to beam us back, the other Enterprise was also trying to beam back on the same coordinates but on a different plane.  So, basically…”

“We got transported to a different universe?”  Leonard finished.

“Exactly.”

“Okay Jim.”  Leonard scratched his neck.  They had been to alternate universes before.  This wasn’t like old Spock who went through a fucking black hole.  _They could get back, right?_   “Just beam us back and we’ll discuss it on the ship.”

“Bones…” Jim sighed.  “It ain’t that simple.”

“What did you say Jim?”  Leonard could already see where this conversation was going.

“It turns out the natural state of this planet blocks transporters from functioning correctly, and the atmosphere is not conducive to a shuttle landing.”

“Jim…”

“And the next time we won’t be blocked is…”

“Twenty-one days!”  He positively heard the other… him? … bark into her communicator.  “God damn it, Jim Kirk!” 

It seemed Jim also heard.  He could positively hear Jim flinch. 

“Fuck.”

“Yeah, but we’re going to work on it.  The Spock in this world claims that the planet is 100% hospitable.  Most ‘normal’ looking fruits aren’t poisonous, and there is fresh water.  Spock even claims there are wild animals and fish _."_

_Fuck._

When Jim Kirk persuaded him to take 19th century outdoor survival as an elective during their second year, Leonard had thought Jim was bat shit crazy.  There was no fucking way anyone could be that stupid to beam down to any planet without at least the bare minimum supplies.  Jim had shrugged at the time and simply stated that it could be useful for that ‘maybe’.  At that point, Leonard was still adamant about taking a dirt side posting and wouldn’t need fucking 19th century outdoor survival 101.

“God damn it Jim Kirk, this better satisfy Starfleet’s fucking away mission quota for the next two years.”

“Aww, Bones, it’ll be fun.”

“Fun my ass,” Leonard mumbled.

It seemed by then Lea, definitely Lea, had ended her conversation with her Jim.  “Well, we’re going to take more readings.  We’ll contact you… guys when we have more news.  Just hang tight.” 

_God fucking damn it._

The world was fucking 100% screwing with him.  “Aye Captain,” Leonard barked back.  Because seriously, considering the circumstances, what the fuck was he supposed to say?  Jim seemed to take the hint and promptly ended communications.

“God damn it,” Leonard muttered again.  He clipped his communicator back onto his belt buckle.  When he looked back up, he found Lea standing centimeters from him.  She held her hand out at him warily.

“I guess since we’re stuck on this planet together we better do this right, Dr. Lea McCoy, CMO of the USS Enterprise.”

“Dr. Leonard McCoy, CMO of the USS Enterprise,” Leonard took her hand.  Her grip was tight and strong.  He guessed any incarnation of him would be able to hold his or her mind. 

“I guess McCoy’s as CMOs are constants in any universe.”

“Something liked that.”  Leonard said while shifting on the balls of his heels.

“I’m guessing your Jim Kirk explained the situation?” 

“Yeah.”

“As much as I hate this phase, as Mr. Spock would say ‘it would only be logical for us to stick together’.”

Leonard laughed.  At least he wasn’t the only McCoy aggravated by Spock’s ‘logic’.  “I do, agree.”

Lea pulled out her PADD from her side pouch.  It seemed in their universe bringing PADDs on away missions were a constant.  Leonard mentally noted to file it away as a suggestion to Jim for future away missions. 

“Jim suggested we stay put until they find some solution to beam us back, but I’m not stupid or optimistic.  We’re stuck on a foreign planet.  There are some fruit trees and a creek a few meters away.  Jim and I passed it while we were studying the planet.”  

Leonard nodded. 

As they started walking further and further from the beam out point, Leonard found himself constantly glancing down at Lea’s protruding belly.  There was also the lagging question of what type of man would agree to leave their pregnant wife alone on some foreign planet?  Leonard wondered if Lea just didn’t notice his constant glances or decided to avoid the issue.  It wasn’t until they reached the fruit trees and small creek that Lea said anything. 

“Well, we’re here.” 

Besides the fact the leaves on the trees were fucking purple, they seemed non-hazardous.  Still Leonard wasn’t stupid.  He pulled out his tricorder and waved it over the fruit.  He was pleasantly surprised that the readings came back… normal.  Lea raised an eyebrow.

“You can’t be too careful.”

“I know.  I ran the readings myself earlier.”

_Of course.  God damn it._

Otherwise she wouldn’t have suggested they returned to this point. Lea reached up and plucked down two red fruits.  She handed one to Leonard.  From the shape, texture and color, it appeared to be the Earth equivalent of an apple, but it tasted like a peach.  It was surprisingly soft and juicy unlike an apple.  It had been a long time since he last had a Georgian peach.

Lea collected some more before sitting down on an old tree stump.  Leonard chose a boulder nearby.  She pulled her long brown hair back into a pony tail.   

“Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?”

Leonard almost choked.  “What?”  He managed to gasp out.

“You could just ask instead of staring.”

“Oh.”  Leonard decidedly looked away.

“In case you’re wondering, and considering our situation, I’m eight months along.”  She bit into her own fruit while she rubbed her belly with her free hand.

“Fuck.”  The words left Leonard’s lips before he realized he had said it.

“No thanks,” Lea responded back. At least she still had her humor.  Leonard felt the day’s events had completely wiped the remaining humor from his system.  “I’m sure that could only cause weird temporal and spatial problems.”

“It wasn’t that.  It was just… well… fuck… how?”  Leonard blurted out.  _Well fuck._ That definitely did not go as he had planned.

Lea furrowed her eye brows.  “Since I’m assuming you’re a capable doctor, I’m going to assume you aren’t questioning the process of procreation.”

“In my universe, pregnant crew members are expected to transfer to a dirt side posting during their pregnancies.  How did your husband possibly allow you to beam down here?”

When Lea didn’t immediately respond, Leonard wondered if he had offended her.  When she finally did speak, Leonard could detect a slight annoyance her voice.  He suddenly wondered if this wasn’t the first time she had been asked this question.  “Well, first that’s a shame.  In my universe, Starfleet is 100% family friendly.  Two, nobody ‘allows’ me to do anything.”

Leonard could almost see the air quotes around the word ‘allows’. 

“Although when you’re CMO and married to your captain…”

At that point, Leonard did choke.  He fucking choked on his apple-peach thing.  Lea looked at him in alarm before getting up and literally pounded on his back.  She had a mean punch.  Leonard fucking gasped for air. 

“You… you’re married to Jim Kirk.”  He managed to sputter out. 

She pulled out a Starfleet issued canteen that was strapped to her brown bag.  She opened it before handing it to Leonard.  “Aren’t you?”  She asked so nonchalantly as if she was asking about the weather.  

Thankfully for them both, Leonard didn’t take a fucking drink at that point.       


	3. Chapter 3

Jim Kirk had always thought he was a perceptive man.  After all it required amazing awareness to be a Starship Captain.  Even so, he wasn’t sure how he missed it.  After his frustrating conversation with Bones ended, the other Jim Kirk had suggested they continue their discussion in a conference room.

When they arrived, Jim couldn’t say it wasn’t unnerving to see counterparts of nearly his entire command crew assembled in the room.  At least he wasn’t in the fucking mirror universe where advancements involved murder or some strange gender altered universe.  Besides minor physical changes these people were similar his own command crew.

It was clear someone had already debriefed them on the current situation.  They greeted him as “other Captain Kirk,” which was fucking confusing.  He wasn’t even _their_ captain. 

They assembled around the conference table.  It took Jim a moment to realize his spot wasn’t at the center of the table.  It was a little embarrassing when both he and other Jim Kirk reached for the exact same chair.  It seemed there were some constants in the world.  Spock offered Jim his seat, but Jim politely declined.  He might still be ranked captain, but this wasn’t his ship, and this wasn’t his crew.  He had long learned a captain is only as strong as his crew, and he didn’t _know_ these people.  

He ended up sitting in what he guessed was this universe’s Dr. McCoy’s seat.   He knew this world’s Bones was currently down on the planet with his Bones.

_Fuck… when did he start to think of Bones as his?_

But there was still the question of who the other Jim Kirk had been talking about when he first entered the transporter room.   Who was the ‘she’ that the other Jim seemed to have forgotten about?

“We currently have two problems: one, how to send my counterpart and his doctor back to their world, and two, how to beam our doctors back onto the Enterprise.  Mr. Spock initial readings suggest that both of the anomalies resulted from the planet’s temporal waves.  The readings show it will take one Omega Beta lunar month for the waves to realign.  We cannot miss this window.  In the mean time we need to figure out what caused the temporal disturbance, reverse it and prevent it from happening in the next lunar cycle.”  The other Jim Kirk stated. 

The command crew nodded in agreement.

“Mr. Scott, please have engineering go through the transporter data.  Mr. Spock, please continue to analyze the data.   Ms. Uhura, please contact Starfleet about our slight problem, and that we will be grounded here for the next lunar cycle and then help Mr. Spock with the analysis.  Mr. Chekov and Mr. Sulu, please continue to collect data from the planet for Starfleet and for Mr. Spock.  It’ll keep the admiralty from asking too many questions.  There are plenty of planets and stars in this system for the whole crew to be kept busy.”  The other Jim Kirk detailed out. 

He was surprisingly efficient.  It surprised Jim how readily this command crew agreed to his counter part’s demands.  Even this Spock nodded.  He wondered if his own crew would have agreed so easily.  He wondered what his own crew was currently doing.  Jim knew his ship was in good hands.  Spock had a level head.   Spock must have figured out by now that he and Bones had been transported to another dimension.  The planet’s readings were so obvious now in hindsight.

The meeting was almost adjourned as quickly as it had started.  The command crew filed out leaving only Jim and his counterpart.   The other Jim had pulled out his PADD.  Jim suddenly never felt more useless.  This Enterprise had its own Jim Kirk.  Here his rank didn’t matter.  This crew would never listen or follow him like they did their own Jim Kirk, and it was obvious they valued his opinions highly.

He had always been good at fixing things.  He had entertained the option of going through the engineering track instead of tactics when he first enrolled.  Pike had quickly quashed that plan.  He was adamant that Jim would make a legendary Starfleet captain someday.  Still his thesis was supposed to be on starship design optimization, but he had never finished that.  The Battle of Vulcan and Earth quickly squashed any need for a thesis defense.  Both he and Bones had been sent messages on their PADDs that they both qualified for graduation based on their actions during those events an week after the hearings.

Jim was just about to volunteer to go down to engineering and help Scotty when the conference room door slid open.   He thought it would be one of the command crew returning because they had forgotten something or a yeoman that the other Jim had called for.  Instead a little girl with long brown hair tied into high pig tails and piercing blue eyes bound into the room.  Jim’s eyes widened. 

_There are children on this starship?_  

When the little girl screamed, “Daddy!” and the other Jim Kirk turned around and pulled the little girl into his lap, he couldn’t help but wonder just how different this universe actually was.  

“Did you have a nice day?”

The little girl nodded.  She turned towards Jim.   She furrowed her eyebrows.  The look she gave him was so familiar.   It reminded him of Bones…

“Daddy,” She whipped her head around and looked at him once before turning back around.  She whispered, although Jim could hear every word, into the other Jim Kirk’s ear.  “Where’s Mommy?  Why is there another Daddy?”  She pointed at him. 

_Mommy… Daddy…_  

Only then did Jim notice the tantalizingly obvious platinum ring on the other Jim’s left ring finger.  His counterpart _was_ married.  There was a Jim Kirk in an actual universe that was married.  Bones was going to have a field day when he found out about this development.  

Other Jim sighed.  He gently ran his fingers through the little girl’s pigtails.  “Sweetheart, Mommy won’t be back for a while.   She’s currently on the planet.”

_On the planet…_

The ‘she’ the other Jim Kirk had been referring too.  The strangely feminine yet familiar voice he had heard through the other Jim’s communicator.  He was married to Bones. 

_Fuck._

In this universe, Leonard McCoy was female, and fuck… they had a child together.  The more Jim looked at the little girl the more he could see himself and Bones in her.  He could see Bones’ nose and his cheekbones.  He could see the way she worried her lip when other Jim told her.  She was a child that could never be in his universe. 

And…God was she beautiful.

“This is Jim Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise, sweetie.”  The other Jim Kirk answered.           

The little girl’s blue eyes widened.  “But, Daddy you’re the captain.  You’re Jim Kirk.”

“Yes, sweetie.  I am, but so is he.  He’s from a faraway place.  In his world, he also has a ship like our Enterprise, and there he’s also captain.  Understand?” 

The little girl shook her head.  She worried her lip momentarily before opening her mouth again.  “So, he’s Daddy too?”

“No,” Jim immediately answered, faster than he intended.  The little girl’s eyes widened before she buried herself into other Jim’s shirt.    

_Fuck…_

“Sorry,” Jim scratched the back of his neck, nervously.  He smiled at her, and the little girl peeked out from behind other Jim’s shirt.

“Go, say hello,” the other Jim prompted.     He gently set the little girl down.  She looked up at him with those large imploring eyes.  She placed her fingers into her mouth.  The other Jim smiled and gently pushed her forward.  “Go on, like Mommy taught you.

The little girl stepped forward.  She looked up at him once before taking a deep breath.  “Hi, I’m Joanna Lea Kirk,” the little girl parroted out.   “Nice to meet you.”

Jim smiled.  “Hi, Ms. Joanna.  You can call me Jim.”  He knelt down, so he was now eye level with Joanna.  “It’s nice to meet you too.”  He extended his hand to her.

Joanna rolled on the balls of her heels.  She looked back at other Jim as if asking for permission.  He nodded.  Joanna smiled at him.  She smiled her toothy smile. He noticed that she already had a few missing teeth.  “Hi, Jim,” she said shyly.  She took his hand.  Her hand was so tiny compared to his own.

The other Jim clapped his hands together.  “Sweetie, why don’t you show Jim around the Enterprise?  We’ll have dinner together at…”  Jim glanced down at his PADD.  “1800 hours… that’ll give you two a couple of hours.”

Joanna nodded excitedly.  She pulled on his hand. 

Jim wasn’t sure how it happened, but soon he was wandering the hallways of the Enterprise with his counterpart’s daughter.  It seemed either other Jim or maybe Spock had already notified the crew of his presence.  Nobody addressed him as captain, but they were all polite and courteous.  Here was just Mr. Kirk.

It was soon obvious to Jim that besides sharing the name Enterprise and having the exact same command crew there was very little else in common between his Enterprise and this Enterprise.  Jim recognized some counterparts of his crew, but most of the crew members were different.  This Enterprise was much larger and more diverse than his own Enterprise.  There were departments and rooms here that just didn’t exist on his Enterprise. 

Joanna took him to the recreation rooms first.  Unlike his own Enterprise which had a much more primitive holo deck, this Enterprise’s holo deck was much more advance.  The people were more real.  The food didn’t taste synthetic, and fuck… he could even smell the grass and feel the breeze. 

Joanna showed him some of her favorite holo programs.  One was of Bones’ Georgian family ranch.  His own Bones had taken him to Georgia after the Khan incident to escape the admiralty during his recuperation.  He looked back on those months fondly.   

There was very little difference between the two universe’s ranches.  Like the real ranch, it was quiet and felt like what a home should feel like.  At least Jim figured this was what home was supposed to be like.  Hell, he could even smell the Georgian grass, and he swore he wasn’t hallucinating Bones’ grandmother’s peach cobbler.  That woman could cook.  Jim had easily gained back all the weight he lost and more after spending a week in Georgia. 

Joanna was practically proud of ‘her horse’, Nebula.  She was a pretty chestnut brown.  She was tall and strong.  Jim was surprised they let her ride such a large horse even in a holo program.  “Mommy says on Earth, there are many horses like Nebula.”  She swung her legs backwards and forward.

“Have you never been to Earth, Joanna?”

Joanna shook her head.  “I’ve seen other worlds though, but Daddy’s ship is the best.” 

Jim smiled.  _Yes, the Enterprise is the best._ She was the best home he ever had.  Joanna hopped off the wooden railing.  Nebula paced around her pen.  She had grown tired of Jim stroking her after he ran out of sugar cubes. 

Joanna tugged on his arm.  Jim looked down.  “Let’s go see Mommy’s sick bay.”  Jim nodded, following her out the door. 

The scene vanished as the door closed.

Jim was pleasantly surprised to see that this sick bay was near identical to his own.  It seemed in any universe Dr. McCoy ran a meticulous, orderly sick bay.   He immediately recognized M’Benga.  It seemed M’Benga was Bones’ only medical personnel that appeared in both universes.  There was a pretty blonde nurse in the corner who Jim swore seemed familiar. 

“Auntie Chapel!”  Joanna called.  The self-same nurse turned around.  Jim mentally kicked himself for not realizing.  Christine Chapel… that had been one of Jim’s least proud moments of his life.  He and his universe’s Christine Chapel, Jim had viewed it at the time as a harmless, short fling.  Christine had viewed it as something more. 

Bones had been furious when she declined his offer to serve on the Enterprise with him.  “Damn it Jim, she was going to be my head nurse.”  Christine Chapel was the first and last member of his crew he slept with.  He was officially given the Enterprise a few days later. 

Joanna tugged on his hand.  “This is Jim.  Auntie Chapel is Mommy’s head nurse, and Uncle M’Benga is Uncle Spock’s doctor.”  Chapel waved.  M’Benga laughed.  It seemed in any universe M’Benga had that same jovial laugh.

“I specialize in Vulcan medicine.”  M’Benga explained. 

Jim nodded.  It seemed in any universe M’Benga’s academy education involved Vulcans.  He wondered if it was more useful in this universe than his own.

After sick bay, Joanna showed him other divisions and departments around the ship.  It seemed scientific research and exploration was more heavily pursued in this universe.  Jim found himself catching himself when a crew member volunteered to show him their latest discovery.  He hated having to deny a person in his universe the gratification of telling him their discovery, but he also didn’t know how that would affect the space time continuum if he did know.  The whole mind meld that the other Spock had performed on him years ago still left lasting effects that Jim doubted would ever go away.  He had seen things about that universe that he probably should not know.

Luckily, the crew members seemed to realize after offering and weren’t terribly disappointed.

Joanna eventually took him down to engineering.  He watched as she ran to Scotty who picked her up and swung her around his hip before walking over to him.  “Sorry about what happened in the transporter room.”

Jim shook his head.  “No, I would be more concerned if you hadn’t.”

“Of course, cap…”

“Jim.”  Jim immediately corrected.  He wasn’t this Scotty’s captain despite how eerily similar they were.

“Uncle Scotty, show Jim Enterprise’s heart,” Joanna proclaimed.  She tugged on his uniform.  Jim blinked confused, but Scotty just laughed. 

“Aye, lassie.”

Joanna giggled.   Scotty let her down.  Jim watched as she skipped ahead.  “She’ll make a fine engineer if she didn’t have her heart set on being captain.”  Jim could hear the pride in Scotty’s voice.  “Although she’ll make a fine captain too, don’t tell her parents I said that though.”

Jim smiled.  Joanna wasn’t even his daughter, but he felt a surge of pride anyways.  “Yes, she will.”

Scotty clapped a hand on his shoulder.  “Come, Jim, let’s go see the Enterprise’ heart.” Jim could see the twinkle in Scotty’s eyes.   

It turned out the ‘heart’ was the warp core.  It seemed oddly appropriate.  Joanna was leaning against the railing excitedly.  The warp core pulsated and hummed.  It had been a long time since he saw his own Enterprise’s core.  It was only now, standing in front of this Enterprise’s core, that he realized he hadn’t seen his own since he sacrificed himself to realign it.

He would have to change _that_ when he got back.

Their final stop was the bridge.  He realized instantly when Joanna said the deck number.  When the turbo lift door opened, Jim felt his breath hitch.  This bridge was almost an identical copy of his bridge.  In the center was a near identical replica of his chair.  The other Jim Kirk was currently in it.  He seemed to be deep in thought as he read the PADD in his hands.  The other members of the bridge crew also seemed to be deeply engrossed in their work.  Jim suddenly felt extremely out of place and a tad guilty.  Unlike these people who were most likely busy trying to come up with a solution, he had literally spent the entire afternoon wandering throughout the ship being entertained by a little girl.   

“’mission to come on the bridge!” Joanna chirped out cutting into his thoughts.  Jim looked down at the little girl.  She had puffed out her chest and had formed a near perfect salute with her right hand.  Jim couldn’t help but smile.

He watched as his counterpart tilt his head backwards.  He set his PADD down before beaming.  “Permission granted.”

Joanna dropped her hand, her child like demeanor immediately returned before she ran to him.  “Daddy!” She squealed wrapping her arms around his legs. 

The other Jim smiled before picking her up and setting her on his legs.  “Were you a good girl for Jim?”  He asked.  He tapped her on the nose.

Joanna nodded.  “I was the best, right Jim?”  She grinned back at him, and Jim could only nod.  He wondered if even had she been bad, he would have been able to do anything but nod.   “I showed Jim Nebula and Enterprise’s heart and Mommy’s sick bay.”  Joanna ratted off.  The other Jim smiled amusedly.  “When’s Mommy coming back?”  Joanna tilted her head. 

The other Jim sighed.   “Not for a while.”

“Aww.”  Joanna pouted.

The other Jim ran his fingers through her honey brown bangs.  “Hungry sweetie?”

Joanna nodded.  The frown on her face immediately disappeared.

“Dinner?” The other Jim looked over at him.  Only then did Jim realize how hungry it was.  He had eaten a light lunch before beaming down to the planet with Bones, and that had been hours ago. 

Jim nodded as he watched his counterpart swing Joanna over his head before sitting her on his shoulders.  The little girl squealed in delight as he took himself off duty.


End file.
